Jason Artman

Why a Great Battery Charger Is One of the Best Investments a Vaper Can Make

By Jason Artman | August 04 2020

If you have a vaping device with removable batteries, that gives you the luxury of charging your batteries with an external battery charger if you like. Many vapers opt not to do that, though, because virtually all vaping devices also have USB ports for charging. Why would you bother buying a standalone battery charger when you can charge your vaping device just by connecting it to your computer? For that matter, why spend the money that premium battery chargers usually cost when a free USB cable can do the same job?

You’re about to learn why a great battery charger from a vape shop like Blackout Vapors is a much better investment than you might realize. In fact, it’s one of the best investments a vaper can make. Here’s why.

Vape While Charging

Most modern vaping devices don’t support pass-through charging. Even if a device does allow you to vape during charging, the repeated charging and discharging is bad for the battery and can reduce its longevity. If you have a standalone charger, you can charge one pair of batteries while vaping with another. It’s better for the batteries, and it also means that you don’t have to stop vaping while your batteries charge.

Better Battery Longevity

If you’re using two pairs of batteries rather than one, it’s better for the longevity of the batteries. That’s not just because you’re dividing the usage among twice as many batteries; it’s also because you’re giving your batteries a break between charge-discharge cycles.

Safer Battery Charging

You’ve probably heard that any lithium-ion battery has a small chance of overheating during charging or use. You may have even heard that a few vape battery explosions have occurred over the years. Thermal incidents with lithium-ion batteries are extremely rare, but they’re even rarer with high-quality batteries and chargers. Now, if you’re using a mod that costs $50 – and you can buy a battery charger for around $50 – what do you suppose is the value of the charging components in the $50 mod?

A high-quality battery charger provides the safest possible way to charge your vape batteries. That’s not just because of the quality of the charger itself; it’s also because of the safety features that a good charger offers. These are just a few of the safety features that you can expect a top-quality standalone battery charger to have.

Individual balancing and monitoring of each battery cell
Better heat dissipation during charging
Flame-retardant materials
Temperature monitoring
Short circuit detection
Monitoring for battery cell degradation
Monitoring of the battery’s internal resistance

Ability to Charge Multiple Battery Types

One of the greatest things about owning a really good battery charger is that it’s more than just a tool for charging your vaping batteries. Many battery chargers have the ability to automatically detect the chemistry and type of any connected battery. In that way, a good charger isn’t just for charging basic 18650 vaping batteries. It can also charge 20700 or 21700 cells if you decide to upgrade to a larger vaping device one day.

If you happen to own AA, AAA, C or D batteries using the NiMH or NiCad chemistries, a good battery charger can usually handle those as well. Why have a million different cables, wires and chargers around the house when you can handle all of your batteries with just one device?

Choose Your Charging Speed

When you charge a device through your computer, you don’t get to choose the charging speed. That’s negotiated via the USB power delivery protocol between your computer and the device’s charging circuitry. When you have a standalone battery charger, though, you can enjoy much finer control over how your batteries charge.

If you don’t want to change anything about how your batteries charge, you can simply charge them with a 1-amp current. If you do that, your batteries will charge exactly as they do now. If you want to reduce the heat that your batteries give off during charging, though, a good battery charger will let you reduce the charging speed to a 0.5-amp current. Heat-related stress is the top factor that reduces a battery’s longevity. Although reducing the charging current will roughly double the amount of time that your batteries take to charge, it may also mean that your batteries will last significantly longer before you need to replace them.

On the other hand, you may be the type who doesn’t care about battery longevity. You’d rather spend as little time as possible waiting for your batteries to charge, even if that means you’ll need to replace the batteries more often. If that’s the case, today’s high-end battery chargers can provide fast-charging currents of up to 3 amps. Before using this feature, though, be warned that fast charging can cause batteries to get fairly hot. Be certain that your batteries support fast charging before using this feature.

Recover Some Dead Batteries

When a lithium-ion battery reaches 4.2 volts, it’s fully charged – and if you’re new to this type of battery, you might assume that the battery is dead when it reaches 0.0 volts. That, however, isn’t how lithium-ion batteries work. Your vaping device will actually tell you that your batteries are dead when the cells reach about 3.0-3.3 volts. That’s true of all devices using lithium-ion batteries.

Let’s suppose, though, that you use a mechanical mod. A mech mod has no internal electronics and doesn’t monitor the voltage of your battery. If your vaping device doesn’t monitor battery voltage, it’ll let you continue using your battery until the power level dips well below 3.0 volts.

At extremely low voltages, a lithium-ion battery can undergo permanent chemical changes that will damage the cell and may present a fire risk. For that reason, a lithium-ion battery enters a sort of “sleep mode” at this stage. In sleep mode, the battery will read 0.0 volts when connected to a standard charger, and the charger will not attempt to charge the cell.

One of the money-saving features you’ll enjoy with a good battery charger is that some chargers can actually force dead batteries out of sleep mode and revive them. Once a battery has been in sleep mode, it’s likely that its capacity will be somewhat diminished. However, having a lower-capacity battery is better than having a battery that doesn’t function at all. Once you’ve revived a few dead batteries, a high-quality battery charger essentially pays for itself.

How Is Vape Juice Made and Distributed? An Insider’s Guide…

By Jason Artman | July 30 2020

Have you ever wondered about the life of a bottle of e-liquid – what happens to it and what it goes through before finally reaching you? As it turns out, many of the bottles of vape juice that you buy have actually passed through several hands already. E-liquid is big business these days, and the production and distribution of vape juice has become a well-oiled machine. So, how is e-liquid made and distributed? Let’s learn more about what happens to those bottles of vape juice before you buy them.

How E-Liquid Is Made

Today, almost all e-liquid is made at large facilities by companies called “white label” manufacturers. A white label manufacturer is a company that manufactures a product but doesn’t put its own name on it. Instead of putting its own name on the package, the white label manufacturer makes the product according to another company’s specifications and puts that company’s name on the product. Almost every bottle of e-liquid that you buy is actually made by a manufacturer that produces vape juice for many different brands.

White label manufacturers make it possible for smaller e-liquid brands to get started in the industry even if they lack the resources to construct their own factories. A white label manufacturer has already invested the necessary capital to build a clean room facility and handles product consistency and quality control on the e-liquid brand’s behalf.

Do Independent E-Liquid Makers Still Exist?

Today, it is financially unfeasible for most e-liquid brands to vertically integrate themselves and produce their own vape juice. Offering product quality similar to what a white label manufacturer can offer would likely require an investment of millions of dollars. It’s also legally unfeasible in the United States because a new e-liquid brand can’t launch without first going through the PMTA process.

There are still a few vape juice manufacturers who make their own e-liquid in small labs that they’ve constructed themselves or in mixing facilities at vape shops. There aren’t many of those brands left, though, because they would have needed to be in business already when the FDA announced its regulations for the vaping industry in 2016. Over the years, those smaller brands have slowly dropped away as mass-market e-liquid has increased in prominence.

How E-Liquid Is Distributed

After it’s manufactured at the white label facility, e-liquid is shipped to the company that ordered it. Many e-liquid brands – like UK vape juice maker Second City Vapour – do sell direct to the public, and some brands also sell juice to vape shops on a wholesale basis. Most vape juice, however, goes from the brands to a massive worldwide network of distributors. Distributors do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to transporting e-liquid, often shipping dozens of bottles to vape shops at a time.

What Determines the Price of E-Liquid?

At each step along the line from the original manufacturer to the final sale to the end user, someone needs to earn a profit. So, although the profit margins in the e-liquid industry can be enviable, retail prices and profit margins have both gone down considerably over the years.

Most e-liquid brands aren’t making their own products from raw materials; they’re buying finished goods from white label manufacturers. That’s more expensive than making your own products, but building a clean room facility is unfeasible for most e-liquid brands.
Most vape juice goes to distributors who then sell it to vape shops. Distributors have to keep their prices low. In turn, they expect e-liquid brands to give them very attractive price structures.
Selling e-liquid to a distributor results in relatively low profits for an e-liquid brand. However, it’s much easier to ship dozens of bottles to one buyer than it is to ship individual bottles to dozens of buyers – so wholesale business is very important for e-liquid brands.
E-liquid brands earn their highest profit margins from selling direct to consumers, but the profits are offset somewhat by the labor involved in packing the orders. Vape juice brands must be careful to maintain the highest price points that their customers will accept; if they undercut the vape shops that sell their products, they’ll risk losing wholesale business.

Is It Better to Buy Vape Juice Direct From the Manufacturer?

As you can now see, a typical bottle of e-liquid passes through many hands. Before it finally reaches you, the following things occur.

A white label manufacturer makes the product.
The manufacturer ships it to the e-liquid brand.
The e-liquid brand ships it to a distributor.
The distributor ships it to a vape shop.
You buy it from the vape shop.

The modern production and distribution model for e-liquid is the reason why vape juice steeping simply isn’t as relevant today as it once was. When entrepreneurs made vape juice on demand – in their homes – and shipped it direct to consumers, bottles of e-liquid might only be a week or two old when customers received them. When you have an e-liquid that was manufactured very recently, steeping can help to remove the vape juice’s harsh edges and encourage the different flavor notes to meld together.

Today, though, it’s likely that almost every bottle of vape juice you buy is at least a month or two old by the time you receive it. It’s had plenty of time to steep and already tastes as good as it ever will.

When you consider the age of your e-liquid, though, it brings up an interesting question. Some people like the flavor of a vape juice that’s already had several months to steep. Others, though, would rather have a vape juice that’s as new as possible – either for maximum freshness or for maximum storage life.

If you haven’t started to think about the upcoming PMTA deadline yet, now is the time to start. It is highly probable that many of your favorite e-liquid flavors will be going away for good this September. If it’s stored well, vape juice can easily last for a year or more with no degradation in flavor quality. If you’re thinking about getting some e-liquid for long-term storage, you might want to consider buying it directly from the manufacturer for the best possible chance of getting a bottle that was manufactured recently.

The 7 Most Essential Features Any Portable Vaporizer Must Have

By Jason Artman | June 10 2020

Buying a new portable vaporizer isn’t a small decision for most people. A good vaporizer typically costs at least $100, and the best models can cost more than double that. You can’t very well return a vaporizer once you’ve stuffed it full of herb, so it’s pretty important that you get your choice right when you buy your device from Lux Vapes or another high-quality vaporizer seller.

The purpose of this article isn’t to make specific product recommendations. Aside from a few industry stalwarts that have been around for years, the market for portable vaporizers is constantly shifting. New products are appearing all the time, so the best vaporizer on the market at any given moment is constantly changing. Instead, this article will focus on the features that you should look for when buying a portable vaporizer.

Leaving aside the price – you know what you can afford – what features should any good portable vaporizer have? Let’s dive in.

Temperature Control Lets You Customize Your Vaping Experience

It’s usually a bad idea to choose a portable vaporizer that only turns on and off because a lack of full temperature control means that you have very little ability to customize your vaping experience.

Why is temperature control important in a portable vaporizer? The first reason is practicality. If you can’t get your vaporizer to operate at a heat level that you find smooth and comfortable for vaping, you’ll have difficulty inhaling the vapor deeply, minimizing the benefit that you get from your herbs.

The second reason why temperature control is important is that you might like to change what you get out of your vaping experience. The different compounds in your herbs vaporize at different temperatures, so adjusting the temperature of your vaporizer allows you to control what you’re inhaling.

Easy Cleaning Makes Your Vaporizer Enjoyable to Maintain

One of the things that you’re going to spend a lot of time doing with any vaporizer is keeping it clean. Herb resins are very sticky, and after you use your vaporizer for a while, you’re going to find that the device’s oven and vapor path are pretty gunked up. The residue will affect the device’s performance and flavor, so cleaning will become a regular part of your vaporizer maintenance routine.

Check out our #1 picks for vaporizers in the table below:

Brand Name	Rating	Why You'd Buy It...
Crafty Vaporizer (The Absolute Best In The Biz)	100%	Best-In-Class Cloud Production Insane Flavor Excellent Design Simple To Use As Good As A Desktop Vaporizer Unrivaled Performance
DaVinci IQ (Best For Battery Life)	100%	Outstanding Design Removable Battery Great Vapor Production Intense Flavor Simple To Use Fast Heat-Up Time (30-40 seconds) (View Pictures)
PAX 3 (Best For Heat-Up Time)	98%	Ultra-Portable Design RAPID Heat-Up (20 Seconds) Great Phone App For Control Wireless Charging Excellent, Smooth Vapor Great Flavor Production (View Pictures)
Arizer Solo II Vaporizer (Best Value For Money)	98%	Sleek, Unique Design 30 Second Heat-Up Excellent Battery Life Simple To Use LED Display
FireFly 2 (Best Instant Hits)	90%	Beautiful Design Runs Dry Herbs & Concentrates Excellent Vapor Production Simple To Setup Fast-Charging Battery Phone App Support (View Pictures)

Vaporizer manufacturers do a variety of different things to make maintenance easier. Some devices, for example, have vapor paths that you can remove for soaking in alcohol. Before buying any portable vaporizer, you should look at the instructions for cleaning it and make sure that you’re comfortable following those steps.

Easy Loading Ensures That You Won’t Make a Mess

Unless you’re fortunate enough to grow your own, herbs can be extremely expensive. You don’t want to waste anything, and one of the biggest sources of waste for vaporizer owners is owning a vape that’s difficult to fill. You want your herbs to drop easily into your device’s oven rather than spilling all over the counter.

The DaVinci IQ 2 – My New Daily Driver. Check Out Our FULL DaVinci IQ 2 Review For More Details…

Note that the smallest and most discreet vaporizers are often the ones that are most difficult to fill. Many people who shop for portable vaporizers want to buy the smallest devices possible, but there’s almost always a tradeoff in terms of the device’s usability.

Quality Materials Deliver the Purest Possible Flavor

One thing that you should always think strongly about when buying a portable vaporizer is the materials used for the device’s oven and vapor path. Some of the best vaporizers do have plastic vapor paths, but many people believe that you can get even better flavors out of a vaporizer with a chemically inert vapor path made from a material like ceramic, stainless steel or glass.

Ceramic and stainless steel are the two most popular materials for vaporizer ovens. While you’re not likely to find a vaporizer with an oven made from plastic, you should steer clear if you do because a vaporizer’s oven must be impervious to heat.

A Vaporizer Should Meet Your Requirements for Portability

A vaporizer can be as large as a small power tool while still meeting the definition of “portable” because it runs on battery power. Some vaporizers, however, are so small that you can close your entire hand around them for complete privacy when vaping. A vaporizer should meet your standards for portability – but bear in mind that there will be some tradeoffs involved if you choose a smaller vaporizer.

As mentioned above, smaller vaporizers are often more difficult to fill.
Smaller vaporizers may also be more difficult to clean.
Since a smaller vaporizer by necessity has a smaller battery, it will have poorer battery life.
A smaller vaporizer may produce vapor that’s less thick and potent.
A smaller vaporizer will have poorer heat dissipation and may feel hot in the hand.

A Vaporizer Should Have Your Desired Oven Position

A portable vaporizer has two possible oven positions. The oven can be at the top of the device – right under the mouthpiece – or it can be at the bottom. The two designs both have their own benefits and drawbacks, so choosing your preferred oven position is actually one of the most important decisions that you’ll make when buying a portable vaporizer.

If the oven is at the bottom of the vaporizer, you’ll enjoy cooler, smoother vapor. However, the vapor may be less potent due to the distance it must travel before reaching your mouth. In addition, positioning the oven on the bottom may make the vaporizer more difficult to clean.
If the oven is at the top of the vaporizer, you’ll enjoy warmer, thicker vapor. You may also find the device easier to clean due to the shorter vapor path. However, some people find that a vaporizer with a top oven generates vapor that’s difficult to inhale comfortably due to the heat.

You May Want a Vaporizer That Supports Concentrates

Unless you’re primarily a user of waxes and concentrates, it’s likely that you’re shopping for a portable dry herb vaporizer. Some devices, however, include pads or canisters that allow them to support concentrates (like the DaVinci IQ 2). If you use concentrates some of the time – or you think there’s a chance that you will in the future – you might want to consider buying a vaporizer with dual-media support.

Either way, we’ve tested loads of vaporizers over the years and the best of the best are listed here; inside our Best Weed Vaporizor Mods Guide.

Introducing VIGGO, Australia’s New Pod Vape

By Jason Artman | March 11 2020

Life isn’t easy for Australian vapers. As we’ve mentioned elsewhere on this site, the legal hurdles required to buy nicotine e-liquid in Australia could give an outside observer the impression that the Australian government actually prefers its citizens to smoke rather than vape. You can read more about those hurdles via the link above. In short, though, the only legal way to buy e-liquid that actually makes sense for most Australian vapers is to import it – so that’s what most Australians do.

Importing e-liquid into Australia works fine for bottled e-liquids, but buying vape pods in Australia can be problematic because pod systems that use pre-filled pods aren’t available domestically. Why would vape shops sell JUUL, for example, when nicotine-free pods aren’t available for that device? Although it’s legal to import pre-filled pod systems into Australia with a prescription, the makers of most of those devices aren’t set up for Australian shipping.

What Australians need, in other words, is a pod system that’s designed for them, and more importantly, is sold by a company that actually understands the challenges of shipping nicotine vaping products to Australia. That’s exactly what the folks at Vaper Empire believe they have with the new VIGGO pod system.

What Is the VIGGO Pod System?

The VIGGO is a vaping device designed to bring the pleasures of pod vaping to people in Australia and New Zealand without the problems – long shipping times and uninformed customer service representatives – that tend to go along with importing such devices into those regions. Vaper Empire has an Australian office and has customer service agents stationed in Australia. Those agents understand the legal hurdles that Australian vapers must overcome to import e-liquid, and they’re trained to walk customers through the process. Once the purchase is made, it arrives from an overseas fulfillment center via DHL in 3-5 business days.

The VIGGO is slightly larger than some pod systems such as the JUUL, enabling it to support a higher-capacity 400 mAh battery and generous 1.8 ml pods. The sides of the device are gently sloped for comfort, and the VIGGO also sports a soft-touch external finish. It’s available in two starter kits costing $59.99 and $89.99 in Australian dollars. The more expensive kit includes a leather carrying case and three packs of pods. The less expensive kit, meanwhile, includes one pack of pods.

Vaper Empire offers a bulk pod deal that helps to make up for the few days of waiting when you order your refills. If you take advantage of the bulk pod offer, you’ll get one free package of pods for every three packages that you buy.

VIGGO Pods: Flavors and Nicotine Strengths

At the time of writing, the VIGGO pod system has pods available in six different flavors. Vaper Empire is a company with extensive industry experience and a wide selection of bottled e-liquids, though, and it’s likely that VIGGO users will see additional flavors in the future if the device takes off.

VIGGO pods use nicotine salt e-liquid and are available in strengths of 3 percent and nicotine-free. Nicotine-free pods for pre-filled pod systems are a rarity, and the VIGGO is one of the very few exceptions to that rule. It’s important to note here that the VIGGO is engineered to produce very full vapor clouds compared to a smaller device like the JUUL. So, while a nicotine strength of 3 percent is less than what some other pod systems use, the cloud production ensures that you won’t notice a difference.

The flavors available for the VIGGO pod system are as follows:

Apple: The pick of the orchard, balancing sweet red and sour green apple notes to create a balanced flavor profile.
Creamy Custard: Smooth, rich dessert e-liquid with a creamy base, a touch of egg yolk and a hint of seductive vanilla.
Menthol: Extra-cool menthol for those who really enjoy the head rush.
Orange Crush: Fresh orange juice flavor with an icy edge.
Tobacco: Slightly sweet tobacco flavor with a bold note of flue-cured leaf.
Whole Leaf Tobacco: Edgier, smokier tobacco for those who want something more reminiscent of a cigarette.

All VIGGO pods are color-coded for those who enjoy switching flavors.

Variable-Voltage Pod System

Aside from the fact that it’s a pod system with pre-filled nicotine-free pods available, the most unique feature of the VIGGO is that it has variable-voltage functionality. The best part is that you can expect all three voltage settings to work flawlessly since the VIGGO is a closed-system device that only works with pods from Vaper Empire.

To change voltage settings with the VIGGO, simply press the mode button on the bottom of the battery three times. The indicator light changes color to show the current voltage selection; the VIGGO operates at 3.0, 3.4 and 3.8 volts. At the lowest voltage, you’ll enjoy cooler, smoother vapor and will drain your pods a bit more slowly. At the highest voltage, you’ll get richer flavors and bigger vapor clouds.

How Does Vaper Empire Handle Shipping to Australia?

Vaper Empire uses DHL as a shipping partner to provide express shipping throughout Australia and can deliver products in as little as 3-5 days. The fact that Vaper Empire has an Australian office ensures that the company’s customer service agents are well versed in Australian laws regarding vaping and can walk customers through the compliance hurdles.

Australian law is very clear on the fact that to import nicotine e-liquid legally, you must have a doctor’s prescription. That’s your responsibility; Vaper Empire isn’t a pharmacy and doesn’t have the right to request or view your private medical information. It’s highly advisable to go through the process of obtaining a prescription anyway, though, because you never know when a customs agent might ask about it.

Remember that customs agents have the right to open and inspect any package that enters Australia.

If they see that you’ve ordered e-liquid with nicotine, they’re probably going to ask you to present your prescription. Once you have a prescription, simply keep a picture of it on your phone so it’s always available if you need it.

5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Buy In Vape Shops

By Jason Artman | January 14 2020

The average vaper barely scratches the surface of what his or her local vape shop has to offer. If you only go to your local vape shop when you need a bottle of e-liquid and a box of coils, you’re missing out on a lot of other fun things that you could also be buying. Do you think that the vape juices, mods, and tanks on display represent everything that a vape shop has to offer? No way.

If you spend a bit of time browsing and asking questions, you’re going to find a huge variety of products that you didn’t even know you wanted. If your local vape shop has been in business for more than a few years, they’ve probably also got a stash of older products that they don’t even bother displaying.

Make your next trip to a local vape shop an adventure by looking for something out of the ordinary. These are the 5 products that you didn’t know you could find at your local vape shop…

#1) Many Vape Shops Stock CBD and Kratom

The American vaping industry is on tenuous legal ground in 2020. In May, the regulatory grace period that the industry has enjoyed for the past several years will end, and every manufacturer in the industry will need to have a pre-market application on file with the FDA for each of its products. Since pre-market tobacco applications are far too costly for small businesses to put together, most independent American vaping brands will disappear in May unless something changes.

Vape shops, in other words, will suddenly find themselves with almost no vaping products to sell. Right now, smart vape shops all over the country like Vapor Connection LLC in Pittsburgh are working their fingers to the bone looking for alternative revenue streams. CBD and kratom are two herbal supplements that have proven to be natural fits for vape shops, perhaps because some people choose to consume those supplements by vaping them.

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Before you start checking out the herbal supplements at your local vape shop, remember that supplements are not regulated by the FDA and therefore can’t be marketed with health claims. Don’t ask the owner of your local vape shop whether a given supplement is good for treating a given condition; he or she can’t legally answer that question. Take the time to do some reading online; you’ll find plenty of published studies about CBD, kratom and other popular herbal supplements.

#2) Vintage Vape Gear

Can you believe that the vaping industry is already more than 10 years old? We’ve actually reached the point at which you can safely start using the word “vintage” to describe older vape gear – and if your local vape shop has been around since the beginning, there’s a good chance that they still have some vintage products tucked away somewhere.

Are you a collector? Visit your local vape shop and ask what vintage vape gear they have stashed away. You might find an old ProVari by ProVape or Darwin by Evolv. You might even find an ancient cigalike from back in the day. There are dozens – maybe even hundreds – of vaping brands that have come and gone during the history of the vaping industry. Those companies’ products – now relics of the industry’s past – may become serious collector’s items in the future. For now, though, you can still buy most of them cheaply.

Do you own an older vape tank that you still enjoy using? If the manufacturer of your tank no longer makes the coils, check your local vape shop. A vape shop that’s been around for a while will likely have an enormous selection of coils for obscure tanks.

#3) Replacement Parts for Any Vaping Product

Do you have a tank with a warped o-ring or broken glass enclosure? These days, it’s common for high-end vape tanks to include replacements for all crucial components. If you’ve already used your tank’s replacement parts, though – or you’ve lost them – you might have a serious emergency on your hands if you break your tank and don’t have another tank that you can use while you wait for the replacement part to arrive. When you need a replacement part for a tank or other piece of vaping hardware, your local vape shop is the best resource you could possibly have. Don’t bother checking your local vape shop’s shelves for replacement parts – ask at the counter. Vape shops often store spare parts in drawers and in other containers because the demand for those products isn’t high.

Other random parts and accessories that you can often find at your local vape shop include:

Springs and buttons for mechanical mods
Battery doors and covers
Battery wrappers
Battery packs for LiPo-powered mods
Metal hardware and drip tips for tanks
Mounting screws for rebuildable atomizers
Thread lubricant
Coil winders and wire cutters

#4) Non-Mainstream Smoking Products In A Vape Shop!?

Do you still smoke from time to time even though you vape? Maybe you’re not necessarily a tobacco smoker, but you do enjoy some alternative smokeables from time to time? Many vape shops actually double as smoke shops because, ironically, the legal future of the tobacco industry is much more secure than that of the vaping industry. In addition, many vape shops were primarily tobacconists before vaping exploded in popularity.

Some of the unusual smoking and tobacco products that you may find at your local vape shop include:

Loose tobacco blends for pipe smoking, cigarette rolling or dry herb vaping
Non-tobacco herbal cigarettes and smoking blends
Imported cigarette brands
Swedish snus and other non-combustible tobacco products
Wood and glass pipes for tobacco or herb smoking

#5) Dry Herb and Wax Vaping Products

Dry herb vaping isn’t just for cannabis. You can also vaporize loose-leaf tobacco in a dry herb vaporizer, and that option might become very appealing to you in May if all of your favorite e-liquids suddenly become unavailable. Just like tobacco smoking, dry herb vaping has no legal issues – except for those that already govern the tobacco and cannabis industries – and isn’t going anywhere.

You just need the right type of vaporizer to use them; check out my #1 picks for dry herb vaporizers right now.

Many people are likely to give tobacco vaping a try in May, and it’s likely that you can find everything you need to get started with tobacco vaping at your local vape shop.

Why Vape Shops Are Our #1 Best Hope For Killing Teen Vaping

By Jason Artman | January 09 2020

The results from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Use Survey are in, and they are extremely alarming for those of us in the vaping industry. Among high school students, a shocking 27.5 percent report regular e-cigarette use. A further 10.5 percent of middle school students report regular vaping. That’s a total of 5 million underaged vapers in the United States as compared to 3.6 million – an already astonishing number – in 2018.

The epidemic of new nicotine users in schools undermines the core goal of the vaping industry, which is to render combustible cigarettes obsolete by transitioning all adult smokers to an alternative that’s equally satisfying but less harmful. It also threatens the future existence of the industry – and adults’ continued ability to access the products that keep them off of cigarettes – as politicians from both parties have repeatedly threatened a blanket ban of virtually all vaping products in an attempt to curb teen vaping.

In January 2020, the federal government finally arrived at a potential compromise by announcing a ban of all cartridge and pod flavors except tobacco and menthol for the closed vaping systems that teens generally use. Among underage vapers, closed systems – particularly JUUL – are the most commonly used vaping products. The ban does not apply, however, to the bottled e-liquids that most adults use. While many adults do use JUUL and will be unhappy about the reduced availability of flavors, most vapers will likely agree that the flavor ban accomplishes its goal of making vaping less appealing to teens without making it less appealing to adults.

It is our hope that the flavor ban will finally put a dent in the underage vaping epidemic and that vape shops such as The Vape Bar can continue to survive and thrive. True vaping industry professionals know, however, that we cannot remain idle. The government can and will regulate the entire vaping industry out of existence if the teen vaping trend doesn’t begin showing signs of improvement immediately. We need to play an active role in keeping e-cigarettes out of kids’ hands while ensuring that adults can still get the products they depend upon.

This is how your local vape shops work to stop teen vaping.

Industry-Leading Standards for Age Checking

Vape shops have some of the world’s most stringent standards for age verification. It’s likely that most teens buy vaping products from gas stations, convenience stores and online sellers that don’t check buyers’ ages. Gas stations and convenience stores often get very busy during peak hours, and most of the products that those retailers sell aren’t age-restricted. The employees at such stores simply aren’t always in the habit of checking ID before every sale – but we are.

Vape shops operate completely differently from other sellers of nicotine products. Every product that a vape shop sells is age-restricted. We don’t admit customers under 21, and we check ID on every sale, regardless of the product being purchased.

Secure Storage of Nicotine Products

A good vape shop always stores nicotine products behind the counter or in locked displays. That’s not just to prevent shoplifting; it’s also to ensure that minors have no physical access to the products. Do you have a local convenience store that displays products like disposable vape pens next to the dodgy energy supplements and no-brand CBD gummies at the front of the store? If you’re looking for the reason why teens in your community are vaping, stores like that are the first places where you should look. This is another case where vape shops simply know better because we don’t sell any products that aren’t age-restricted.

Tasteful Advertising for an Adult Audience

Every business wants to attract new customers, and advertising is the way to do that. Although most vaping products contain no tobacco, vape shops are subject in most states to the same advertising restrictions that tobacco companies face. We’re required to utilize advertising channels that aren’t geared toward minors, which is exactly as it should be.

For online vaping brands, though, the story is a little different.

The vaping industry – particularly for companies that primarily sell their products online – is insanely competitive. The differences between various brands’ products are often quite small. To break away from the pack, an online vaping brand needs to appeal to the buyer’s emotions and establish a unique brand identity. Sometimes, though, brands go too far in their attempts to get ahead. In a lengthy report, researchers from Stanford have alleged that JUUL hired social media influencers extensively during the brand’s launch and that the company specifically targeted youthful customers. JUUL, as mentioned above, is almost exclusively the brand that teen vapers use. If not for JUUL, most of those teens would not be using nicotine at all.

Mindful Community Stewardship

The biggest difference between local vape shops and the big online vaping brands is the fact that vape shops are members of their communities. Vape shop owners know their customers and are personally invested in ensuring that their customers’ children aren’t using nicotine products.

Put differently, a conversation that begins with “Did my kid get this from your store?” is one that no vape shop owner ever wants to have.

Vape shop owners are the same as other small business owners. We want to look our customers in the eye and serve our communities to the best of our ability. Having a few extra dollars in the register at the end of the day is definitely not worth the cost of selling vaping products to teens.

Every person who vapes has an addiction that might last a lifetime. We’re all glad to have discovered a less harmful alternative to smoking, but most of us would prefer never to have tried nicotine in the first place. The last thing we want is for a child to suffer the same fate.

About the Author

Robert Conway is the owner of The Vape Bar Portland. Oklahoma City’s premier vape shop, The Vape Bar is veteran owned and operated and prides itself on maintaining one of the largest selections of e-liquid and vape gear in the OKC area.